You Can’t Be Free If You’re Afraid to Be Different

Most people want different results—but they’re afraid to live differently. In this episode, we confront that fear head-on and talk about what it really means to be different in today’s world. This isn’t about being quirky for the sake of it. It’s about intentionally going against the grain to live a life of deeper meaning, purpose, and freedom.

We explore the cost of comfort, the danger of fitting in, and the slow drift toward mediocrity that happens when you stop leveling up. We break down how values—not goals—should guide your decisions, and how sticking to your North Star will set you apart in your health, your relationships, your business, and your walk with God.

This is for anyone who’s felt the tension between who they are and who they could be.

📌 Key Topics:
 ✅ Why being different is the price of real freedom
 ✅ The invisible influence of your peer group
 ✅ The myth of comfort—and how it’s keeping you stuck
 ✅ Choosing your hard: divorce, disease, or discipline
 ✅ Delegation isn’t laziness—it’s leadership
 ✅ Understanding risk and building asymmetric upside
 ✅ Why your values must be louder than your culture
 ✅ Defining success on your own terms (and no one else’s)
 ✅ Habits, cold plunges, and becoming the person you were meant to be
 ✅ Why most people stop at level 10 when the game goes to 100
The world doesn’t need more people playing it safe—it needs more people willing to stand out. Be different. Be free.

🎬 Chapters:
00:00 Introduction to Uniqueness
02:07 Pursuing Freedom and Lifestyle Changes
03:06 The Fear of Being Different
05:46 Choosing the Hard Path
09:33 Learning from Failure
13:27 Understanding Risk in Business
15:59 The Importance of Values
19:41 Sticking to Your Values
23:34 Defining Weirdness and Cultural Norms
26:22 Surrounding Yourself with the Right People
30:03 Embracing Discomfort for Growth
34:59 The Journey of Constant Improvement
38:47 The Importance of Goals vs. Values
42:29 Becoming the Person You Want to Be

Transcript

What I think that people need to be more aware of is, I can't remember the exact terms, I think they're just called alpha and beta. They use it in the Wall Street language. But when you're talking about investments, the alpha is the market carrying it, like we're at the rising tide. And many people have become very wealthy just by riding it at the right time. Sometimes it's luck, sometimes it's skill. That's up to perception. The beta is what tangible changes can you make to a business?

And it's, you know, when you're buying multifamily and you go in and renovate units, that's your beta. That's your physically improving the property, you're going to bring in more income. Buying a property, sitting on it, letting it go up in value is not skillful investing. A lot of it is luck. And the same with any type of investment. That's alpha and people mistake alpha for beta scale. And, and I might have those terms backwards, but the point is that I think people need to be aware of where their strengths are. And that's part of being different.

Tanner, we're back at it again. welcome.  been having a good week. What's you, which been up to, well, I'm helping these out of state clients. They've got three deals in their contract this week and they're optimistic doing inspections and, ⁓ getting the financing under order. So what kind of ⁓ multifamily. they're selling, selling off paid off properties that they they've accumulated over a long time in, ⁓ in Washington state. and 1031ing it into Nebraska. they're buying, one's buying a total of eight units first is starting with really low leverage on a duplex just to get into the Omaha market and then go from there.

 So that's last part again, but the eightplex. they're 1031 as well. So one's a 1031, the other's putting a large down payment on a duplex just to enter the market. So I got you have multiple different transactions going on. Okay. I was combining the two into one. would confuse me.

Yeah, total of 10 units. Are you looking at business deals as well? Yeah. I sat down with an owner of a trucking company today and he's actually be a good future guest because he just leveled up his lifestyle and decided to make the move to Hawaii and wants to sell off his business here. And so just working through the ins and outs of that. And it's going to be interesting. You say leveled up his lifestyle. you mean?

He had a life goal of after five years, you know, living in Omaha to, to move to Hawaii, take his family to Hawaii and buy a business out there. And this year he did it. he bought a business. So he's already out there. He's already, he just has the business here. just trying to get rid of it. sense. So, yeah, it's part of that, you know, freedom, freedom pursuit. Yeah. So along those lines of freedom, one thing that's kind of been on my heart or mind or whatever it's been. being different. And what does it mean to be different? And...

So many times people are worried about being different. But when I look at...

people in America, see, what's it, two out of three are overweight. 50 % are divorced. ⁓ I think I've heard statistics like 20 or 30 % of those that are married are the ones that are happy. The other 60, 70, 80 % are unhappy in their marriage in some way, shape or form. you know, a of people who suffer from diabetes, high blood pressure, all this stuff.but then we're scared to be different. Like those are all things I don't want. 

Like I don't want my marriage to fail. I don't want to be, you know, overweight with diabetes and all that. But why are we so scared to be different? Why are we so scared to stand out and be different? And so it's just something that's kind of been on my mind, on my heart, I guess. And just figured we'll open up the conversation there. 

Yeah. I mean, obviously there's much deeper psychological. thing to the herd mentality. But I think that people just lean into comfort too much. And when it's comfort eating or the grass is greener mentality or whatever it may be, that's what leads to the problem of all these things. I think when, let's quote about doing the same thing, expecting a different result. And when people are, they want to be more fit, but they're not doing the things to be more fit.